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MADELEINE 



A POEM IN FRAGMENTS 



DANIEL CHAUNCEY BREWER 
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NEW YORK AND LONDON 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

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COPYRIGHT BY 

DANIEL CHAUNCEY BREWER 
1888 



Press of 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York 



CONTENTS. 



MADELEINE. — A Poem in Fragments. 



The Gathering of the Shadows. 

PAGE 

Prelude i 

Song 2 

Dream Fancies 3 

Musing 3 

Interlude 4 

Despair 5 

Prayer 5 

Hope » .... 6 

Joy .... 7 

Thanksgiving . 8 

'Twixt Darkness and Daylight. 

Parted 11 

A Solace 12 

New Year's Flowers 13 

Pansies ......... 14 

Verses 15 

The Clouds Dispersed. 

A Letter 16 

A Query 17 

Toward the Trysting Place 18 

iii 



iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Waiting ig 

At Last 20 

The Riddle Solved 21 

Exultation 22 

The Knight 23 

Postlude 24 

The Coming of the Bride and Other Verses. 

The Coming of the Bride 27 

Sunrise 28 

A Roundhead's Valentine 29 

Sonnet 31 

Thoughts 32 

The Romance of an Arrow 33 

Nasturtiums 34 

Clotho 35 

Arbutus 36 

Drifting 36 

Daisies 37 

The Revealing Touch 38 

Mt. Greylock 39 

Thales 40 

Violets 41 

The Brook 41 

February 42 

Moonlight Phantasies 42 

Softly, Sweetly 43 

Mark Hopkins 44 

To the Brandywine River 45 

Ocean Foam 46 

Fate's Changes 46 

The Poetry of Cloudland 47 

Princeton 49 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGE 

Sonnet 5° 

Dreamland 51 

By the Sea 52 

To A Certain Household Queen . • . . 53 

Atlantis and Vers de Societe. 

Atlantis . -57 

"With Christmas Bells 62 

The Softest Tint 63 

To AN Old Wedding Dress 64 

To My Lady 65 

An Indication 66 

Wishes . . .66 

Dreams 67 

Winter Has Come . . . . . . .68 

A Souvenir 69 

To THE Little Niece 70 

The Belle c . 70 

She Sayeth No 71 

A Student's Room 72 

Inviting 73 

To A Coquette ....».,. 73 

Ballade 74 

A Mystery 76 

The Mosquito 77 

In By-Gone Times = . 78 

The Pretty Debater ...... 79 

The Coquette 80 

Ballade 81 

A Simile . 83 

Doubtful 84 

My Girl 85 

Lips of the Daintiest Hue 86 



VI CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

A Study 87 

Ballade of Voices 88 

At Ft. Wm. Henry 89 

Bits from the German. 

Die Liebende Schreibt 90 

Bauernregel — Precepts for Peasants ... 91 

The Letter Which You Have Written . . 91 

IcH Sprach zur Sonne .92 

By-Path Gleanings. 

Class-Poem — Williams 95 

The Saxons 106 

At Eventide 107 

A Rebuff 107 

To Orion 108 

Ivy Song 109 

A Fragment no 

On THE Death of a Favorite Dog . . , .111 

HeRMON ......... Ill 

Companionship of Nature 112 

By the Grate 113 

Golden-Rod 115 

My Grandfather 116 

A Sonnet 116 

PoLYCARP 117 

The Flower Girl .119 

Sunlight through Cloudland .... 120 

Life 120 

Consecration 121 

A Suggestion . 123 

Christ and Peter 124 

To a Flower 125 



CONTENTS. VU 

PAGE 

Watch and Pray 126 

From My Window 127 

The Sleepers in the Old Copp's Hill Burying- 

Ground 128 

Missionary Sonnet 129 

Longfellow 130 

Despair 131 

Last Words of Columbus 132 

The Two Songs of a Maiden ..... 133 

Storm in the Night 135 



MADELEINE. 



THE GATHERING OF THE SHADOWS. 



I. 

PREL UDE. 

Bright spots there are in every heart, 

Dear mefnories of the past, 
Sweet music from the bygone days 

That were not born to last. 

I dreamed last night of happier days 

Than I have lately known. 
When from my heart I thought your love 

Responded to my own. 

And in my sleep I hummed these lines, 

Which ere the autumn died 
Had been my constant oriflamme, 

The banner of my pride. 



MADELEINE. 



II. 

SOJVG. 

Softly the evening shadows 

Kiss the trailing robes of day, 
And clustering 'round the roses 

At my feet they seem to say, 
As the meadows lose their being. 

And the lengthened shadows wane 
" Have you done your every duty 

Pour I 'amour de Madeleine ? 

" Are you nobler, stronger, better, 

Than you were when early dawn 
Blazoned all the sky with splendor 

At the advent of the morn ? 
Have you sought with manly courage 

Some far distant height to gain ? 
Are your aspirations higher 

Pour r amour de Madeleine ? " 



THE GATHERING OF THE SHADOWS. 



III. 
DREAM FANCIES. 

Dreaming, dreaming, and in my dreams, 
Again I walked by my darling's side, 

And never methought was the sky so fair. 
And never had one such cause for pride. 

Dreaming, dreaming, and through my dreams, 
The flowers you loved in days of yore 

Were strewn in beauty about my path, 
And I was a happy boy once more. 



IV. 

MUSING. 

I can but love thee, O my Love ! 

Although full dark thy answer be, 
For surely none can ever know 

How very dear thou art to me. 
That fire is lit within my breast 

Which e'er shall burn a constant flame 
To render thee sweet sacrifice, 

And shed soft lustre on the name, 
That in my life shall ever stand 
To guide me to the better land. 



MADELEINE. 



V. 

INTERL UDE. 

When o'er the yellow screen of autumn leaves 

Old Winter spreads his dreary waste of snow, 
And panoplied within their crystal vaults 

The laughing streamlets cease their merry flow, 
One can but wonder at the gray outlines 

That stretch away to where a leaden sky 
Clasps the cold earth within its grim embrace, 

And the great mountains lift their crowns on high. 
God help the heart where Winter s icy bands 
Have chilled the flowers with rei7iorseless ha?ids, 
And changed a garden into whitening sands. 
That stretch away thro' countless tracts that press 
Each upon each in ever mute distress, 
To form a lasting wilderness ! 



THE GATHERING OF THE SHADOWS. 

VI. 
DESPAIR. 

How strange and sad ; 
How strange and sad 
The dark world seems ! 

A mighty cloud 
Has settled from its native sky, 

And gathered 'round me like a shroud, 
The air is close, I cannot breathe, 

Nor know I where to gain relief. 
Is there no hope from heaven above ? 

Is there no balm to cure love's grief ? 



VII. 
PRA YER. 

Night in the heart ! 

Saviour, thou whose blessed feet 
Have trod the thorny side of Calvary, 
With thine own loving art 

Scatter the storm clouds by thy presence sweet, 
And bid the darkness fly ! 

So dark a band 
Of terror has enclosed the sky, 

1 almost doubt that thou canst hear my cry, 
Else wouldst thou come, 

Thou crowned One. 



MADELEINE. 



VIII. 
HOPE. 



Was it God's breath that eased the dull hard pain ? 

O Friend, if so, 't was through thy gentle art ; 
For nobly didst thou meet the task assigned, 

Heeding the promptings of thy tender heart. 
A few stars glimmered in the purple sky, 

And stealing through the vista's golden slope, 
Again there shone into my thrilling breast 

The loving influence of a great sweet hope. 

For in the church, whose doors had opened wide 

To greet the few who came to join in praise 
For harvests granted in a golden tide, 

Came a sweet presence passing thro' the maze 
Of kneeling people, and about her neck, 

God grant it were not coquetry, there lay, 
In softly moulded folds, a scarf of silk 

That I had pressed on her one gray 
Midwinter day, while yet as sterling friends 

We walked together much, and prattled fast, 
As all good neighbors will, about such things 

As with their color glorify the past. 



THE GATHERING OF THE SHADOWS. 



IX. 
JOY. 

Only a silken scarf 

Over your shoulders thrown, 
Yet it brought a stronger flush of joy 

Than as yet I had ever known. 
Then happy, O so happy ! 

I wrote this simple lay, 
A heartfelt tribute from within 

To the glad Thanksgiving Day. 



MADELEINE. 



X, 

THA NKSGI VING. 



Thanksgiving morning, o'er the fields 

Is thrown a robe of dazzling white, 
The only token of the storm 

That raged in fury thro' the night. 
Across the arch of trembling blue 

The far horizon builds a bar, 
Beyond which, showing just its tip. 

The great Sun glimmers like a star. 
A flush of light the zenith reached. 

And on the earth the reflex lay, 
As if the very heavens joined 

In wishing all a merry day. 
Each tree fantastically drest, 
Displays a spotless ermine vest. 
Along the limbs the sunbeams chase 
And fret the boughs with mimic lace. 
They kissed the twiglets when they passed. 
And on the snow their shadow cast. 
Within the homestead brighter rays 
Have filled each heart with loving praise. 
What matter if in days now sped 

Dark clouds have overcast the soul ? 
The eastern sky, all blushing red. 

In God's dear peace has made us whole. 



THE GATHERING OF THE SHADOWS. 9 

Not for a year has such a stir 

Shook the old house from rafter down 
To where within the oven's depth 

The turkey huge is turning brown. 
A sound of hammers in the barn ! 

The nuts are giving up their wealth, 
While happy echoes o'er the fields 

Go ringing thro' the Commonwealth, 
And with their chimes, 

Within the breast, 
Like echoes from the roaring sea. 

The story of Thanksgiving Day 
Comes in a vision close to me. 

Where now great warerooms, block on block 

In stolid columns ever rise 
To threaten with their marble walls 

The azure of the smiling skies. 
Once stretched cold wastes of forest trees, 
Which bending with the eastern breeze 
Offered a music fair and sweet 
Where now the busy, driving street 
Murmurs throughout with busy hum, 

Telling of commerce and of lands 
That lie beyond the golden lines 

Traced by the offing's mystic bands. 

And here it was our fathers formed 
A federation strong and true, 



MADELEINE. 

And bound with chains of linked steel 

The sturdy old world to the new ; 
And here their pious hymns they sang, 
And here their heavy axes rang 
While building a foundation bold 
More precious than the virgin gold. 
We see them now, in sombre dress. 
About their log-built chapel press ; 
We join them as they kneeling pray, 
And found a first Thanksgiving Day. 

Out with a sentimental age 

That looks from off the silvered page, 

The rarest in our nation's life, 

When put aside all bitter strife 

And great with wonderful designs. 

Our pilgrim fathers writ those lines 

That formed the proclamation grand 

Which still shall tremble thro' the land 

From year to year, while clothed in power 

It meets the issues of the hour. 

Thank God for one day all our own, 

New England's dearest heritage. 
Though storms may beat and waters swell. 

And all the darkest passions rage. 
It still will be the one dear link 

That makes our union grandly strong. 
And gives to ages yet unborn 

The matter for a triumph song. 



'TWIXT DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. 



I. 

PARTED. 

Far, far away from home 

Has gone the heart of my heart, 
My life is all with her, 

Although we are miles apart. 
I look at the twinkling stars 

In the arching heaven above 
And whisper along their beams 

The whole of my great true love. 
And I pray that an influence soft 

From the same bright stars may shine 
Till it touches her tender soul. 

As the shafts of light incline ; 
And may bind us each to each 

By a chain of heaven's own gold 
As pure and strong as the bonds of love 

That the poets have sung of old. 
She has left me a solace fair 

For these days of sorrow and pain, 
Which shall give me sweet relief 

Till she shall have come again. 
II 



12 MADELEINE, 



II. 

A SOLACE. 



I have the picture of her face, 

So kind and true, so sweet and grand, 
It almost seems an angel sent 

From the portals bright of holy land. 
And yet about her mouth there dwells 

A something in the shaded line 
Which argues with coquettish grace 

That she is human, if divine. 
Within her eyes all sweetness dwells. 

Above her brow, in tresses fair, 
A diadem of priceless worth 

Is pictured in her bonny hair ; 
No grace is wanting to complete 
A finished portrait fair and sweet. 
This is my lady ! With my lance, 

Beneath cloud-builded battlements 
I '11 lay full many a warrior low, 

Till by each lordly knight's consent 
On golden throne my lady leans 

The princess of earth's tournament. 



TWIXT DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT 13 



III. 

NEW YEAR'S FLOWERS. 

I would, my Friend, 
That I might send my love 
Thrilling thro' every chime 
That cuts the frosty air 
Until it reached thy ear 
And crept into thy heart. 
There to be nourished by 
My tender care. 

Accept these sprays 

Of Heartease which I send 

To one who is the queen 

Of buds ; they are less fair 

Than thou, yet will they prate 

My secrets openly 

If thou shouldst seek to know 

The love they bear. 



14 MADELEINE. 

IV. 

PANSIES. 

'T is a brilliant little flower, 

With colors choice and rare ; 
There are no other blossoms 

So delicately fair. 
All have their pretty meanings, 

But this in itself 's a plea 
That goes to the heart of a maiden, 

For it is, *' Remember me." 

The rose may blush in beauty 

From its home in a mossy bed. 
The violet look its sweetest. 

And the lily droop its head ; 
But spurning all their dainties 

Away from their midst I flee 
To a cluster of tender pansies. 

That whisper, "Remember me." 

And if in the garden they tremble 

With an undulation of love. 
While wet with the dew of morning 

That was shed by the skies above. 
How much more sweet is the rhythm 

If it carries a lover's plea, 
When it whispers : " Although we 're parted, 

O maiden, remember me ! " 



TWIXT DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. 15 

V. 
VERSES. 

Long miles apart ! 

Yet, O my Darling ! all my heart 

Is with you 'mid the distant hills. 
Thou art my dream, my Love, 
And in thy eyes God's heaven above 

Reflected lies, as in the rills 
A great star sleeps at eventide. 
Ah ! were I, Dearest, by thy side 
With many a lover's fond caress 
I 'd show thee in thy gentleness 

How all my life is hid with thee. 
Thou art my lady and my hope. 
Thy love is my ambition's scope. 

Like moonlight on a placid sea. 
Like music's sweet harmonious roll. 
Thy friendship has entranced my soul ; 
And in response, through verses long, 
I make thee ideal of my song, 
And 'mid the web of golden days 
Weave the dear jewels of thy praise. 

God grant that in the future bright 
My life. Dear, purified by thine. 
Thro' every stanza, every line, 

Within the dear Redeemer's sight 
May tremble with eternal light, 
A sweeter poem than I could write ! 



THE CLOUDS DISPERSED. 



I. 

A LETTER. 

My friend — when the fulness of spring 

Strews flowerets over the hills, 
I start for the East, taking wing 

With the birds. The very thought thrills 
My being with ecstatic joy, 
And if nothing comes to destroy 
My plans, which are carefully laid, 

The knight who has often borne lance 
For a most reprehensible maid 

Shall come to meet her in advance 
Of all others, and be her escort 
To the sea and its favorite port. 



i6 



THE CLOUDS DISPERSED. 1 7 



II. 

A QUERY. 

Scented message from warmer skies, 

Surely some deeper meaning shines 
Through your clauses, and hidden lies 
Between the lines. 

Is it a promise of prospects fair, 

Stretching away to the farthest rim 
Of life's horizon and regions where 
The eyes grow dim ? 

Be what it may, the growing spring 

Shall solve the riddle that waits with me 
For flowers to bloom and birds to sing 
Their jubilee. 



1 8 MADELEINE. 



Ill 
TOWARD THE TRY STING PLACE. 

Clouds, all tinged with the setting sun, 

Smile in the distant west, — 
Graceful heavenly harbingers. 

With God's own love imprest ; 
And I am hurrying onward, 

Crossing the sounding rail, 
Following over the mountain 

The sunset's golden trail. 

Softly the shadows gather, 

But where my pilot has gone 
There shines a star in beauty 

Awaiting the morrow's dawn, 
While off in a mystic ocean. 

Dipping behind the trees, 
A silvery bark keeps breasting 

The waves of airy seas, 

Ev'ry mile of the way 

Flashes, in wondrous grace, 

Memories, sweet and fair, 
Of a dear little face ; 



THE CLOUDS DISPERSED. 1 9 

And some one will come with the growing light, 
When the sunbeams making the hill-tops bright 

With a dazzling, glancing sheen, 
A fuller harvest than e'er before 
Of the lights and shadows held in store 

From the waving fields shall glean. 



IV. 

WAITING. 

Meadow and mountain softly lined 

By the waters bright of a purling stream. 
Beautiful in their arching curves 

As the passing view of a shifting dream. 
Surround the little New England town 

Where I am to meet my friend ; 

Beyond the river's sparkling bend. 
Where the jutting banks are shadowed brown, 
She is hastening toward the place. 
Dear spot, you must ever live in the heart ; 
For while the weeks have kept us apart, 
You will bring us together again. 



20 MADELEINE. 



V. 

AT LAST. 

There 's a babel and noise of passing trains, 

And gathering teams that closely press 
Through all the neighboring country lanes, 

But heard above all, the swift express 
Comes thundering over the groaning rails. 

And panting away in some great distress 
Draws up with a last despairing wail 
As if all the world were shadowed with gloom, 

In spite of a beautiful smiling face 
That prettily pouting seems to presume 

That somebody in this singular place 
Of railroad traffic is specially there 
To carry her home to the city where 

Others and dearer await her embrace. 



THE CLOUDS DISPERSED. 21 



VI. 
THE RIDDLE SOLVED. 

Violets mantle the meadows green 

As we flash by ; 
Sunbeams dart through the window screen 

And softly lie 
Tangled among her tresses brown 
Like a golden crown. 

Why should lips tell the truth that rests 

Like rarest prize 
Within her bosom and thence invests 

Her laughing eyes ? 
' T is the same truth that the letter told, 
Grown yet more bold. 



22 MADELEINE. 



VII, 
EXUL TA TION. 



Ah, how bright are the stars 

Far in the heavenly sea ! 
Surely they tremble with love ; 

Are they rejoicing with me ? 
Do they know of the joy 

Singing within my breast ? 
Know they aught of the earth 

Away in each golden nest ? 
Yes ! for on vapor barks 

My messages, day by day, 
Were ferried through purple clouds 

When my love was far away. 
But now she is home once more 

And all is happy and fair ; 
Never was nature brighter, 

And never was purer air ; 
Even the great sweet moon, 

Thro* a shimmering cloud of lace, 
Looks down from heaven above 

With an air of tender grace ; 
And the soft beams enter my heart, 

Nor will I drive them away. 
For the queen of queenly women 

Has brought me her love to-day. 



THE CLOUDS DISPERSED. 23 



VIII. 
THE KNIGHT. 

Clad in his iron coat of mail, 

I think of him as beautiful and brave ; 

In battle's crash, high towering. 

Resplendent in his might as crested wave. 

Gentle and true as powerful, 

Of manly grace and noble courtesy ; 

A cavalier of lofty mind and thought, 
Of virtue rare and signal purity. 

Such would thy knight be, Madeleine ; 

Down at thy feet I bow my pointed lance. 
Gird it with flowers thou ! I know 

'T will ever after shine in the advance. 
Where dark-plumed knights all gloriously strive 

In war's dark heat to gain illustrious name, 
There shall my arms o'erthrow all meaner men, 

And gather garlands for my love's pure fame. 



24 . MADELEINE. 



IX. 

POSTLUDE. 

Domes, minarets, and towers 
Fringed with gold. 

Of silver hue touched with a rosy flush. 
Lining the bounds where earth and heaven meet 
In purple light. 
Ah, for celestial brush 
With which to paint the colors bright 
That tinge the eastern sky I 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE AND 
OTHER VERSES. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE AND 
OTHER VERSES. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 

The first soft breath of morn 

Laughs sweetly thro' the nodding trees, 

And here and there 

The flowers fair 

Lift up their heads to kiss the breeze, 

Op'ning their tiny petals wide 

To dress themselves for the coming bride. 

The fleeting hours, 

Borne upon downy wings, 

Steal swiftly by ; 

While far on high, 

In leafy bowers, 

The robin sweetly sings 

A story that shall never grow old 

Of one who will come with hair of gold 

When the sun god sinks in the sky. 

The zephyrs among the branches above, 
Are gently whispering sonnets of love 
27 



28 MADELEINE. 

Which ever grow more and more, 

Telling in catches of sheer delight 

Of a future grandly fair and bright, 

And of happy days in store. 

A rattle of wheels in the distance ! 

Ah ! she is coming now ; 

List ! how the birds are singing, 

See how the elm trees bow. 

Swing wide the gate where the driveway 
Enters the travelled street ; 
Hail her with showered blossoms. 
Sweets to the sweet ! 



SUNRISE. 

When the morning shades are lifting, 
Comes a golden glory sifting 
Through the clouds, and onward drifting. 
Till beneath angelic brushes 
All the eastern landscape flushes 
With the sunbeams rifting-shifting. 

List ! while every hill-top blazes 
With the silvered light that grazes 
All their summits, nature raises 
From her forest-dwelling choirs, 
From her breeze-swept mountain lyres, 
Hymns that overflow with praises. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 29 



A ROUNDHEAD'S VALENTINE. 

1642. 

''''Fair may de, pluck herte, alle is not loste." 
A parchment fragment roughly bound 
With silken thread upon a page 
Which saw the bright, prophetic age 
Of Elzevir, like sun-browned leaves 
That winds have tossed, 
Seems even yet to voice the sound 
Of ancient oracles, and weaves 
A strand of music through my tale. 
''''Fair mayde, pluck herte, alle is not loste." 
These words are traced in rambling line 
Upon the sheet, and just accrost 
Their rude proportions, like a veil. 
Some hand hath writ in letters fine, 
'''Then am I, sweete, thy Valentine." 

"'Pluck herte, fair niayde, alle is not loste." 
The writer wore a bell-crowned hat 
Of puritanic style and hue. 
Beneath which twinkled, soft and blue, 
Eyes that no lady could despise, 
And which thus cost 



30 MADELEINE. 

Full many a heart-ache. Tall and brave, 

Though decked in strict old-fashioned guise, 

One February long ago, 

This Roundhead crept into a camp 

Of Rupert's cavaliers, and gave 

Such message to the lady who 

Long since had won his heart, although 

Her father had struck many a blow 

For Charles, as he for Cromwell and 

The Parliament. Beside her lamp 

She read the note within her hand — 

^''Fair may de, pluck herte, alle is not loste." 

Then caught her pen and just accrost 

The message wrote in letters fine, 

^''Then am I, sweete, thy Valentine." 

The hasty escalade and flight ! 

The hot pursuit ! ! the fierce affray ! ! ! 

What matter they, since when at last 

The gentle maiden bound full fast 

This yellow leaflet we survey 

Into her Bible as a shrine, 

Her eyes proclaimed the message trite : 

'^Fluck herfe, fair mayde, alle is not loste" 

And sealed the answer writ accrost 

The earlier note in letters fine, 

'''' The7i am I, sweete, thy Valentine." 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE, 3 1 



SONNET. 

With wondering eyes that toward the future bend 
Their trustful glances, comes the sweet new year ; 
While in his train triumphant, far and near, 
Bright rays of promise with the doubts contend. 
And pelting buds of hope that far transcend 
Our choicest dream, drive off the imps of fear. 
Beneath its crystal prison, loud and clear. 
The brooklet's purling symphonies ascend 
In choicer music ; while the distant heights, 
Lifting their heads above the clouded veil 
That hid their glory, greet the glancing lights 
Which dress their summits in a silver mail, 
And sing with nature, as each peak unites 
In one sweet anthem, softly breathing " Hail ! " 



32 MADELEINE, 



THOUGHTS. 

White clouds in the summer sky. 
Floating through the arching blue, 

Glorify and beautify 

All the far encircling view 

That the vision may descry. 

Sweet thoughts passing through the brain 

Add to life as pure a tint 
As the sunbeams' sparkling train 

With their silvered dies imprint 
On the yellowed fields of grain. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 33 

THE ROMANCE OF AN ARRO W, 

Mounted upon a foam-flecked steed, 

Swift as an arrow in his flight, 

■ A courier came with the early light, 

Galloping over the grassy mead. 
* ***** 

Lying alone 

Apart from the rest, 

An arrow piercing his gallant breast, 

And a fond, sweet smile on his face. 

They have found a soldier, tall and fair, 

With great blue eyes and wavy hair, 

And a form of wondrous grace. 

****** 

A missive come 

From the far-off land, 

Which is bound by the sunset's golden band. 

A letter, ah ! priceless joy ; 

It must be wrapt in symbols of love, 

Sentiments grasped from the skies above. 

From a maiden's soldier boy. 

Never a sound 

Was heard in the room ; 

The latest figure is wove in the loom — 

And a tender spirit wings its flight 

Thro the clouds of this earthly sphere. 

To rejoin the one that it loved so dear 

At the gates of the morning light. 



34 MADELEINE, 



NASTURTIUMS. 

Barred in their flight 

Athwart the gay nasturtium beds, 

Pencils of light, 

Kissing the nodding scarlet heads. 

Have traced the leaves with silver threads. 

A thousand helms. 

Like trophies raised on Grecian fields, 

Bespeak the realms 

Where, 'neath the close-locked sunny shields, 
An elfin queen her sceptre wields. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 35 



CLOTHO. 

Crowned with the seven stars, 

In gloom I sit and spin the web of life ; 

Unmindful of men's strife, 

And heedless of the deities whose cars 

Flash all about me in ray solitude. 

To me men owe their pains, 

Ecstatic joy, and all their golden gains, 

For were it but my mood 

To spurn the distaff with the silver thread 

Of their existence, Death itself would brood 

O'er all the rounded world. 

And through its orbit whirled 

At lightning speed the dumb old earth would pass, 

A dark and lifeless mass. 

Though mortals mark each age 

By varied features, to my deathless eyes 

Each epoch 's but the gage 

Of coming periods that shall arise. 

What though great portents sweep the evening sky, 

I know no cause for fear ! 

What though destruction blast each silver sphere. 

Time knows I cannot die ; 

And therefore bows to me his grisly head ! 



36 MADELEINE. 

Thus throned I wait in my thrice solemn guise 

Till through the realms of Chaos, dark and dread, 

'Mid tumbling globes of light 

God's fiat wings its flight, 

That I be stripped of all my royal state, 

And fate o'erpowers Fate. 



ARBUTUS. 

Touched with the flush that the silvery dawn 
Throws like a delicate, shimmering veil 
Over the reaches of forest and glade. 
Whispering brook and laughing cascade. 
It lies where the mountains gently withdrawn 
Disclose at their base some blossoming dale. 



DRIFTING. 

A floweret floated down the stream ; 
Its tender mission in life was missed ; 
The zephyrs played with its petals fair. 
And the dancing waves its calyx kissed. 
It might have lain on a maiden's breast ; 
The poor man's cottage it might have blest ; 
Ah me ! its mission in life was missed. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 37 



DAISIES. 

Daisies are poems that God hath graved 

Upon the surface of his fields 
With sunshine bathed 

A million shields 
Wrought of pure gold, with silvered edge, 
They raise to greet the light, a pledge 
Of the sweet bond 'twixt earth and sky ; 
For ne'er were such caresses prest 
By lover bold on upturned face. 
As when the swift sun couriers spy 
These gentle blossoms, and arrest 
Their course, to wrap in sweet embrace 
The daughters of an earthly race. 



38 MADELEINE. 



THE REVEALING TOUCH. 

A shaft of light 

Winging its flight 

Through airy realms that stretch above, 

Glances athwart the white-robed fields, 
And happy in its kiss of love 

A wealth of gems each meadow yields. 
The landscape bathed in smiling change 
Flashes along the vision's range, 

And myriad diamonds flame and glow 
Discovered by the shining tide 
Of sunbeams that on every side 

Frolic amid the crystal snow. 

A kindly deed 

In time of need 

Touching the cold and cheerless heart, 

A magic palace may lay bare 
Where stored by the Creator's art 

A wondrous treasure, rich and rare, 
Lieth unheeded and unknown 
Till mercy lift the portal-stone. 

Then smile reflection's beams at length ; 
From the old self a man is born 
As splendid as the growing morn. 

Endowed with a God-given strength 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 39 



MT. GREYLOCK. 

Rising majestic to the view, 

Type of eternal might, 
Kissed by the breath of the morning dew, 
And bathed in the tints of the arching blue, 
With the glowing peaks for a retinue, 

It hails the morning light. 

Down from the rough embattled crest 

A hundred streamlets glide. 
Coursing the vales of its rugged breast, 
Always trilling, never at rest, 
Hurrying on in a hopeless quest, 

Scarring the mountain side. 

Ever grand, 'mid color and shade, 

Bond of poetry and prose, 
Laced by brook and silver cascade. 
It looks away over meadow and glade, 
Noting the change that ages have made, 

Mighty in its repose. 



40 MADELEINE. 

THALES. 

O mighty Seer ! 

Who first of mortals in the ancient days 
Of halting habit, dared to peer 

Into philosophy and trace its ways 
Unknown, thy new-born world of thought 
Was dearly bought. 

For with the prize 

There came a loathing of all common things 
That once, reflected in the eyes. 

Warmed thy great soul and bore it up on wings 
Of faith to heights Olympic, where 
Love mocks at care. 

True ! Thou didst look 

With thy awakening, into realms as vast 
As chaos : but thy soul mistook 

The glooming shadows o'er its deserts cast 
By God's own throne, for blossomed bowers 
Of wreathing flowers. 

Now, crowned thou art 

With such dear honors as far-blabbing Fame 
Gives to her sons. Yet thy poor heart 

Was made the forfeit to an empty name, 
And vaguely dreaming thou didst leave behind 
All peace of mind. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 41 

VIOLETS. 

Under the mantle of frostwork and snow, 
Close by the arc of the fairy queen's ring, 

Sleeping in delicate grottos of ice, 

Clusters of violets dream of the spring. 

Visions of summer's soft sunbeams arise. 
Mingled with bowers of wonderful lace. 

Where, on the breast of a maiden, the bud, 
Kisses the smile from a beautiful face. 



THE BROOK. 

Babbling merrily over its pebbles. 

Humming its quaint little snatches of song, 
Trilling its love to vale and to meadow, 
Careless of right and heedless of wrong. 
Rippling and warbling, 
Purling and curling. 
The brooklet hurriedly splashes along. 

Whispering softly mossy traditions. 
Always in motion, never at rest ; 
Furnishing music as chaste as the zephyrs. 
Tracing the stars on its billowy breast. 
Splashing and dashing. 
Dancing and glancing. 
The brooklet hurriedly flows on its quest. 



42 MADELEINE. 



FEBRUARY. 



King of the snow months, 

Rugged and hale, 
Hindering travel, 

Blocking the mail, 

Spreading a garment o'er mountain and dale. 

Borne on thy breezes, 
A chorus of bells 

Ring out thy praises. 

While through country dells, 
Whispering music, the melody swells. 

MOONLIGHT PHANTASIES. 

The wind, close-hooded in the cloak of night. 

Makes the long shadows waver to and fro 
By swinging branches just athwart the light 

Of the pale moon ; across the drifted snow 
With shrilling laughter sweep its gusts, and lo ! 

From crystal wrappings, white-robed wraith and 
sprite 
Wheel in light columns, and together go 

Through waltz mysterious and fantastic rite. 
Mark how the poplars bow their lofty heads ! 

List to the roaring of the flooded stream ! 
On such an evening old Dame Nature treads 

Her gladdest dances, while the elves that teem 
In wood and meadow, leave their icy beds 

And round her frolic where the starlight gleams. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 43 



SOFTLY, SWEETLY. 

Softly, sweetly, 
In the growing gray of morning, 

Far and wide across the valley 
Sound a thousand voices warbling, 

In the coming of the spring, 

Anthems to their Lord and King. 

Softly, sweetly. 
As though angel hands were touching 

Strings of gold, melodious music 
Wafts in waves of wonder, trembling, 

Swelling in its peaceful strains 

Far across the budding plains. 

Softly, sweetly. 
While the light of day is dawning, 

Silvering o'er the distant mountains. 
All the birds unite in singing 

Carols of continued praise 

For the coming summer days. 



44 MADELEINE. 



MARK HOPKINS. 

Among the golden tales 
Of those old days when Pericles with might 
Ruled all the Greeks and patronized the arts, 
Comes a tradition which has crossed the gales 
Of censure these two thousand years, despite 
Men's envy, and the many pointed darts 
That foes have often hurled. It quaintly tells 
How once an artist wrought a work so grand 
That never man can hope to better guide 
His tools, so fair that its repute excels 
Our choicest gems ; shaped thus by the dead hand 
Of Phidias, its memory must abide. 

This man we mourn, God's wonder-working hand 
Framed for a masterpiece, and though the tide 
Of time has dared to sweep the well-loved face 
From out our sight, yet ages shall not hide 
His goodly fame ; and though with might a race 
Of giants fill the earth, and distant skies 
Resound their deeds, the sweet and proud renown 
Of this devoted one shall still remain 
An heirloom to all men, and praise shall rise 
To God for such a gift, while glad hands crown 
His urn with wreaths of silver-fruited grain. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 45 



TO THE BRANDYWINE RIVER. 

Happy art thou, laughing river, 

Splashing Brandywine ; 
Ever praising the Life-giver 
In thy song divine. 
Round the pebbly fords dividing, 
Through the fields and meadows gliding ; 
O'er thy mossy shallows sliding, 
In a silvered line. 

Happy art thou, laughing river. 

Splashing Brandywine ; 
As thy wavelets surge and quiver, 
All thy song is mine. 
Every little strain I treasure, 
Which thy ripples without measure, 
Trill and bubble at their pleasure, 
Splashing Brandywine. 



46 MADELEINE. 

OCEAN FOAM. 



Born of the breakers, 

Silvery, fair, 
Spinning out spray 

For mermaiden's hair ; 
Cresting and breasting 

The mightiest waves, 
Kissing the beach 

That the tide-water laves ; 
Happy, beautiful, everywhere, 
Now of the sea and now of the air. 



FATE'S CHANGES. 

Rosy-cheeked little maid, 
Searching for flowerets. 

Reads in the orchard shade 
Nature's strange alphabets. 

Pink and white clover bloom, 

Beautiful, delicate, 
Breathe out a sweet perfume ; 

Hint at a tete-a-tete. 

Time passes, blossoms die ; 

Maiden all lonely left. 
Curses the earth and sky, 

Charging the Gods with theft. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 47 



THE POETRY OF CLOUDLAND 

The battlements of cloudland, 

Raised in heaven's blue dome, 
Lifting their snowy masses 

In heaps of tumbled foam, 
Changing and shifting ever 

As the waves of a restless lake. 
Contain a world of poetry 

Whatever form they take. 

On the ramparts throngs of angels 

At times flit to and fro. 
And when the sun is sinking 

You catch the silv'ry glow 
Of dazzling arms and helmets, 

And to the wondering eye 
Michael and all his legions 

Float thro' the realms on high. 

Again, while bathed in wonder, 
Come thoughts of a truer world, 

And one sees the future's banner 
With its spotless folds unfurled, 

While the clouds in unstained beauty, 
As they drift thro' the skies above. 



MADELEINE. 

Seem the type of a golden era 

Which shall sway the world by love. 

But all that is found in their splendor 

Can never be fully told 
Till the silver cord is broken 

With the bowl of virgin gold. 
Till then may the gracious Father 

Make us better to understand 
The reflexes of glory 

That fall from the crystal land. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 49 



PRINCETON. 

Green and smooth rolling is the sward 

Of Princeton's battlefield. In bright, 

Clear glancing waves of light 
The mornings kiss its grasses, and award 
A silent benison, while year by year 

Bubbling with song, the brook near by. 

Beneath the warm blue sky. 
Trills out its secrets loud and clear. 

A wealth of clover clothes the place 

Where clad in buff-lined coats of blue 

Our countrymen o'erthrew 
Their alien foe ; and violets efface 
All signs of combat from the mound 

Where Mercer fell. Here one might dream 

Of peace, did not the stream 
Tremble with echoes of a warlike sound. 



50 MADELEINE. 



SONNET. 

Before the springtide come the loud March gales 
That whistle 'mid the rigging far at sea, 
Or shrieking forth in their demoniac glee 

Course from the mountains and o'errun the vale. 

Ere flowers bloom the dreary rains prevail 
In shadowing showers far across the lea, 
While through the garden every bush and tree 

With mirrored tears their fateful lot bewail. 

Yet after tempest comes a gracious calm. 

And following rain the bows of promise shine ; 

The hard-won battle yields a victor's palm, 

And darkest backgrounds light the lace design ; 

In sorrow's train there swells a triumph psalm ; 
'Mid thorny crowns the budding roses twine. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 5 1 

DREAMLAND. 

Stretching away from earth's shadows 

Across brilliant meadows of gold, 
Lost to the bounds of the present 

And the faint traditions of old, 
There lies on the verge of moonlight 

A wond'rous beautiful land, 
Smiling in verdure and color. 

Traced by a mystical hand. 

The fields, refulgent in flowers, 

Are peopled with fairies and gnomes, 
While far on the blushing horizon 

Shine forth the silvery domes 
Of myriad fanciful cities. 

Within whose towering walls 
Are corridors gleaming with crystal 

And vaulted audience halls. 

Hither, afar from earth's turmoil. 

When night's dark curtain is spread. 
Come numberless phantom-like spirits 

To rest till the shadows have sped ; 
And wealthy with poor intermingle. 

Forgetful of sorrow and care, 
Till the flowers welcome the sunlight. 

And kiss morning's purified air. 



52 MADELEINE. 



BY THE SEA. 



Grand and resistless in their sweep, 
The skirmish line of the mighty deep, 

The breakers of the Atlantic surge, 
Over their rock-bound ramparts leap, 

Dashing themselves against the shore. 

Lashing the coast with a hollow roar, 

Destined to battle forevermore. 

Facing the raging of the main, 

With a haughty aspect of cold disdain, 
Lieth the grim Atlantic coast, 

Bearing the ceaseless shock and strain. 
Ready to meet each harsh attack, 
And drive the great waves hurrying back, 
Torn by the fearful shock and rack. 

Thus are the fierce and sharp assaults 
Of wrong in a darkened world. 

And thus, when swelling conflict comes. 
Are its close battalions hurled 

Back to the depths by the cliffs of right. 

That raise their ramparts clear and bright 
With their standards all unfurled. 



THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. 53 



TO A CERTAIN HOUSEHOLD QUEEN. 

Had God vouchsafed that the Evangelist, 

Who leaned on Jesus' bosom, should with might 

Draw in poetic fire those lines of light 

Which wreath thy features in a golden mist — 

As if some kingly archangel had kissed 

Thy soft brown eyes, — he would have failed 

despite 
His high commission ; for no human sight. 
Searching the depths of power that exist 
Within the soul, could reproduce thy face — 
Instinct with tender love thoughts that reflect 
God's greater charity, — nor lightly paint 
The aureole of beauty that, with grace, 
Lights up thy brow seraphically deckt 
In all the bright insignia of a saint. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETE. 



ATLANTIS. 

There was a time when silver-girdled Greece 
Brought forth in numbers from her glinting sands 
The long-oared triremes, and to distant lands 
Sent her brave mariners. The golden fleece 
Once won, both War and Peace 
With ardor led brave bands 
To where PhcEnicia under Persian kings 
Marshalled for battle, or in view of trade 
Sought those far islands where the storm wind rings 
Its fiercest challenge amid rock-bound bays. 
Then strife ruled all the sea, and tribute laid 
On all who coursed her ways. 
Till sword and red-tongued blaze 
Became the handmaids of the voyager's craft. 
And shout of combat wrestled with the storm 
For precedence. Sing of that rivalship, 
O mighty ocean ! on whose teeming breast 
Both thunderbolts and warrior's feathered shaft 
Have spent their force, and make thy notes con- 
form 
To rhythm's charm, till in a wild unrest, 
From east to gray-bound west, 
The conquered winds thy praise in music waft. 
57 



58 MADELEINE. 

That golden age brought forth a poet race, 

Who looked beyond the present to the shore 

Of the hereafter. Not theirs to bend the oar 

Amid high-dashing seas ; not theirs to trace 

The seas from gloomy Thrace 

To where with sullen roar 

The northern ocean battles with the reefs 

Of distant Thule, but when brave deeds were 

done 
It was their part to glorify the chiefs, 
Or weave in web-like wonder charts 
The threadlike tales which sea-worn sailors spun 
Of strange and foreign marts, 
And of the many arts 

Which hostile peoples knew ; nor could they bear 
To cease their labors when each golden fact 
Within the pattern had been deftly wrought, 
But laying down the tapestry they dreamed 
Of regions fabulous and lands unseen. 
Where palm-trees hung with golden fruit attract 
The gaily plumaged birds, and in the sheen 
Of sunlight natives glean 
The wealth of ore with which their fields are seamed. 

Time spoke his fiat : poet and sailor slept 

Beneath the verdure of the sunny land 

That gave them birth ; but, passed from hand to 

hand. 
The singer's words lived on, and those who swept 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETY. 59 

The sea in vessels kept 

Their counsel, and with brand 

Close girdled round the waist, sailed thro' the 

gates 
Of Hercules, and in the open main. 
With courage strong and heedless of the fates. 
Sought for adventure, till the growing shades 
Of the dark ages palsied every brain, 
And with quaint masquerades, 
Mysteries, and crusades 
Held all the world inactive, while once more 
The billows danced unfettered in the sight 
Of the base weaklings whom the priestly craft 
Of Romish minions had deprived of all 
The qualities of man. 
Confess thy guilt, O Babylonish curse. 
And with low dirges let thy monks deplore 
Those eons lost, and in their cells rehearse, 
In low, slow-footed verse. 
The flagrant crimes of popish partisan. 

Thus slept the earth, while babbling in its arms 

The ocean told of grottos far away. 

Where, 'neath the veil of silver-splashing spray. 

Corals and pearls conceal their dainty charms, 

And sponges like tall palms 

In dark-hued columns sway 

Their living clusters with the changing tide ; 

Or else it whispered tales of wondrous mines, 



6o MADELEINE. 

Where golden nuggets gleamed on every side, 

And rarest jewels, like imprisoned beams 

Of great Apollo, rest on fairy shrines, 

While in white shining seams 

The precious silver gleams 

More softly radiant than the rifting moon. 

'Neath every wave-hewn cliff and sand-swept shore, 

Rung through the changes of the growing gale, 

Or softly sung in the sweet monotones 

Of the long surf lines that forever croon 

Their rhythmic symphonies with muffled roar, 

Were told these stories, till the very shells 

Wafted from distant zones. 

With all their fluted cones 

Trembling in echo, caught the chosen tune. 

Such songs are for the listening ear 

Of the inspired hero. While the mass 

Of low-bred mortals let the music pass 

With hasty comment, the prophetic seer 

May, as he listens, hear 

Some secret that shall clear 

Full many a mystery that thus far 

Has puzzled poet and scholar — Whether 't were 

thus 
That Colon saw, like some bright new-born star, 
The famed Atlantis, or by patient thought 
Spent o'er the tomes of those magnanimous 
Old Greeks who ever sought 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCI^TIE. 6 1 

Some newer truth, and caught 

From them a thirst for knowledge that should be 

An eager pilot to far-distant strands ; 

It matters not, since Destiny had wrought 

Full many a conquest 'mid the threads of gold 

Which typified his life. On bended knee 

This ragged suppliant in foreign lands 

First of all Eastern people shall behold 

The warm skies that enfold 

A fabled continent across the sea. 

Discovered by the lightning's fitful gleam, 

A caravel high tossing on the main 

Amid fierce gusts of wind and hustling rain, 

Is destined to become the noble theme 

Of world applause. The dream 

Long nurtured in the brain 

Of one inspired, shall become some day 

A grand reality. Rage then, ye storms ! 

With mingling clouds of silver-combing spray. 

Blot out the heavens from the stricken eyes 

Of those who scorn thy strength and thus transform 

The deep ! Make waves arise 

To dare the distant skies, 

And in thy fury teach this dauntless one 

The limits of his reign ! Alas ! the hand 

Of guiding Deity is stronger far 

Than all your minions. Beams of light 

Shall yet reveal a prize most bravely won ; 



62 MADELEINE. 

As in the heavens rifts of blue expand 

Till 'gainst their softening background, like a star 

Of promise, a long bar 

Of the new land shall sparkle in the sun. 



WITH CHRISTMAS BELLS. 

With Christmas bells and holly boughs, 
Sweet music trembles o'er the land ; 
From ocean unto ocean strand 
You hear its accents sweet and grand, 
While frolic wakens from its drowse 
With Christmas bells and holly boughs. 

With Christmas bells and holly boughs 

Laughter and joy all cares dismiss, 

While, 'neath the mistletoe, a kiss 

Lays open a sweet world of bliss, 

And paves the way for lovers' vows, 

With Christmas bells and holly boughs. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCltTt. 6^ 



THE SOFTEST TINT. 
RONDEL. 

The softest tint that nature knows 
Reveals its beauty thro' a blush, 

When all the distant skyland glows 
At evening with a rosy flush. 

And when to lure the artist's brush, 
The peach its cheek in summer shows, 

The softest tint that nature knows — 
Reveals its beauty thro' a blush. 

Behind the ball-room's curtained plush 
You '11 find, when begging for a rose. 

That while the maiden answers, " Hush ! " 
And just outside the music grows. 

The softest tint that nature knows 
Reveals its beauty thro' a blush. 



64 MADELEINE. 

TO AN OLD WEDDING DRESS. 

Somewhat too full in skirt you say 
To suit the style that now holds sway, 
All that may be — but in the day 
That memory treasures, 
When through the homestead's antique halls 
Its gentle frou-frou kissed the walls, 
'T was a la mode. Its cut recalls 
Some old-time pleasures. 

Though yellowed now, 't was once the pride 
Of stalwart groom and blushing bride. 
While wedding guests on every side, 

As was their duty. 
Praised loudly the becoming dress. 
Remarked the maiden's loveliness. 
And passing on among the press, 

Talked of her beauty. 



Drawn from the fragrant cedar chest, 
Where softly smoothed and gently pressed 
Its silken folds have lain at rest. 

What wonder is it 
That it should prattle secrets old 
From blabbing plait to wine-stained fold. 
And with romances now twice told 

Repay our visit ? 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETlfi. 65 



TO MV LADY. 

Pansies don't smile for all, my Love, 
As sweetly as for you ; 
They catch the sunshine of your eyes, 
And robing in their fairest guise, 
Give back the reflex blue. 

They are so pure that with you, Dear, 
They breathe their own clear air ; 
And with their nicely tinted shades, 
Do homage to the queen of maids 
In colors soft and rare. 

Pansies are sweet interpreters 

Of my great love for you, 

And thoughts the lips cannot express 

Dwell ever in their heavenliness. 

To blossom there anew. 



66 MADELEINE. 



AN INDICATION. 



A lilac cloud against a spotless sky- 
Reflects the glory of the morning light, 

Moving across the seas of living blue 
Seeking an harbor in its airy flight. 

If thou wouldst learn how transient are all joys, 
Watch but the changes that come o'er its face. 

As the great sun, arising in his pride. 
Courses the heavens in his daily race. 

Ere yet one paltry hour shall pass away. 
The fates decree it shall resume again 

That darker panoply that ever breathes 
A silent warning of the coming rain. 



WISHES. 

A village car and a pretty girl, 

A ride o'er a hardened road, 
A pleasant chat and a stolen kiss. 

With your arm placed ''a la mode." 

A royal day with a smiling sky, 

A trim little horse to drive. 
And a whispered "yes," that makes you just 

The happiest man alive. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETE. 67 

DREAMS. 
ON THE HUNTING GROUND. 

We sleep upon fir-tree boughs at night, 

My hunting dog and I, 
He dreams of the chase thro' the Avhistling pines, 

But I 
Dream of a house in a city street 
Where the smoky chimneys rise to meet 

The arching blue of the sky. 

We sleep upon fir-tree boughs at night. 

My hunting dog and I, 
He dreams of a stag with his antlers tall. 

But I 
Dream of a girl with a sweet round face. 
Of her pretty ways and her charming grace, 

And the bonds we hope to tie. 

We sleep upon fir-tree boughs at night 

My hunting dog and I, 
He dreams of the morrow's sunny smile. 

But I 
Dream of one that I idolize. 
And the promise that rests in her soft blue eyes, 

For the coming by and by. 



68 MADELEINE. 



WINTER HAS COME. 
RONDEAU. 

Winter has come. O'er hill and plain 

The zephyrs in a merry train 

Fill the glad air with crystals bright, 
That whirl about in sheer delight, 

The heralds of a long campaign. 

The brook wrapped in an icy chain 
Struggles against its bonds in vain ; 
The fields about are clad in white ; 
Winter has come. 

While sweeter than aught minstrel strain 
Anon you hear the loud refrain 

Of sleigh-bells in their tinkling flight, 
Now tumbling over yonder height, 
Then swelling loud and clear again. 
Winter has come. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETE. 69 



A SOUVENIR. 
RONDEAU. 

A souvenir with dainty bands, 
Wrought by a pretty maiden's hands, 
During the happy days -of old. 
In silks and ribbons manifold, 
Upon my study table stands. 

It tells of shining glinting sands 
Where oft we walked in foreign lands, 
Although 't is only, so I 'm told, 
A souvenir. 

The limit of my room expands. 
And heeding memory's commands, 
The dancing shades of eve unfold. 
The girl with hair of trembling gold. 
Who gave me once, on distant strands, 
A souvenir. 



70 MADELEINE, 

TO THE LITTLE NIECE. 
NOW. 
A dainty gift from above, 
A pure little soul from the skies, 
Mirroring in its blue eyes 
A wealth of seraphic love. 

THEN, 

The loveliest maid in the land, 
Clasped in the arms of her knight, 
Watching the waning light 
On the future's beautiful strand. 

THE BELLE. 
A QUERY. 

A perfect profile, with a ruby lip. 

And eyes deep trembling in a sea of blue. 

Tell me, despite keen rivalship, 

Can she be faithful, is she ever true ? 

A stately form, and a commanding air, 
Such as belong to but a chosen few. 

Tell me, for some are yet more false than fair. 
Can she be faithful, is she ever true ? 

A swimming gait, all lovely in address, 

A fairer ideal never artist knew. 
May I believe the love her lips profess, 

Can she be faithful, is she ever true ? 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETE. 7 1 



SHE SAYETH NO. 

She sayeth no, she meaneth yes ; 
You comprehend her less and less, 
But still, though others criticize, 
You are content to agonize 
Upon her charms, and idolize 
The beauty you cannot possess. 

She sayeth no, she meaneth yes ; 
And some day for your faithfulness. 
The lady that you canonize, 
Ceasing to flirt and tyrannize, 
With all your plans will sympathize, 
And put aside her wilfulness — 
She sayeth no, she meaneth yes. 



72 MADELEINE. 



A STUDENT'S ROOM. 

Adorned with bits of bric-a-brac, 

Some sketches made in white and black ; 

A parasol, hung high to date 

The inmate's meeting with his fate ; 

Palm leaves of wondrous size and guise 

On which red stocks take exercise ; 

All sorts of knick-knacks, large and small. 

That hang in clusters from the wall, — 

Here a remembrance of some call. 

And there the favors of a ball, — 

Mere trifles to avert the gloom. 

And dulness of a study-room. 

Foils, boxing-gloves, and sundry canes, 

Made up in diverse combinations, 

Exist in peaceable relations ; 

While all prepared for tired brains, 

A set of pipes, hung in a row, 

With genial welcome overflow ; 

Pictures of maidens debonair 

From tintypes laugh with don't-care air ; 

While over all, one passing fair, 

With smiling eyes and rippling hair, 

Drives every stranger to despair. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETE. 73 

INVITING. 

Pretty and sweet, ever so neat, 
Sitting alone in a tete-a-tete seat. 
Seeming to say by her negligent air — 
Come and sit side of me, sir, if you dare. 

Saucy and pert ; dying to flirt ; 
Knowing the ropes, and more than expert. 
When she goes further, and seems to insist, 
Who for the moment would dare to resist ? 

TO A COQUETTE. 

Many golden years have fled 
Since o'er sturdy Salem town. 

Sunset with its streamers red, 
Mirrored but the sandy down. 

Where convicted witches bled. 

Then if maids by merest chance. 
Smiled with a coquettish eye, 

They were said to look askance, 
And were soon condemned to die. 

Losing all things by a glance. 

Heartless little modern flirt ! 

Had you lived then, as a witch, 
For your ways so coy and pert, 

In a pot of boiling pitch 
You 'd have met your due desert. 



74 MADELEINE. 



BALLADE. 

Crossing the current of murmuring streams, 
Robed in sweet blossoms, surpassingly fair, 
Beauteous summer glides into our dreams, 
Changing our visions before we 're aware, 
Scattering flowerets everywhere. 
And bringing within her glorious train 
A bevy of maidens that shortly enchain 
Our versatile hearts, and make us forget 
Last season's disastrous, fatal campaign, 
Amid the coy glances of Blonde and Brunette. 

Out on the ocean the sun heralds gleam. 
And glistening sails the sea-breezes share. 
While all the beautiful meadowlands teem 
With daisies, that smile with a mischievous air. 
When, kissed by the zephyrs, they straightway de- 
clare. 
Unless these gallants retract and explain. 
They never shall come to their presence again. 
Thus sweet nature laughs, as without regret 
The tortured collegian is dazzled and slain 
Amid the coy glances of Blonde and Brunette. 

Complexions of mingled peaches and cream 
Bid even the hater of woman beware, 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCI^TE. 75 

Lest forced to the brink of a helpless esteem, 
He finds himself left to a ruthless despair, 
Since she is unwilling his colors to wear ; 
There are maidens petite, whose ways entertain, 
And Juno-like belles with air of disdain, 
And strong is the courtier who pays not a debt 
Before bright September commences to wane 
Amid the coy glances of Blonde and Brunette. 

ENVOY. 

" Then welcome, fair maidens, whatever your reign, 
We '11 obey your decrees, you have but to ordain ; 
And welcome the seasons in which we 're beset 
By imperious fate, while we struggle in vain 
Amid the coy glances of Blonde and Brunette." 



76 MADELEINE. 



A MYSTERY. 

Blue eyes 
Beneath her jaunty hat 

Are trembling with a saucy smile, 
While playing with her parasol 

She passes up the central aisle. 

Blue eyes 
Take note, so carelessly ! 

Of where you 're seated, all intent 
Upon her motions, as she turns 

With artless air, indifferent. 

Blue eyes 
When services are o'er 

Will greet you with a calm surprise, 
When you aver that in the church 

You caught a glance from her blue eyes. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCI^T]^. 77 



THE MOSQUITO. 



RONDEAU. 



Severely grim, with cushioned tread 
He walks about your curtained bed, 
Dances all gory on night's pall, 
Or flying through the lighted hall, 
Draws rations from your aching head. 

Oft when his worsted foes have fled, 
He reigns triumphant in their stead, 
And loudly sounds his bugle call, 
Severely grim. 

An apparition dark and dread 
With lancet that hath cut and bled, 
Singing he eyes you from the wall, 
Or perched upon the bed-post tall, 
He licks his chops all ghastly red, 
Severely grim. 



78 MADELEINE. 



IN BY-GONE TIMES. 
RONDEAU. 

In by-gone times ere romance died, 
When dragons lurked on every side 
And knights in shining coat of mail 
Scoured o'er mountain, field, and dale 
With haughty mien and lofty pride, 

Then he who dared to boldly ride 
With constancy, could win a bride ; 
A lover true could hardly fail 
In by-gone times. 

Who does not wish the swelling tide 
Of modern ways would flow aside, 
And, as in merry ancient tale, 
In love, the truest could prevail ? 
Devotion was the safest guide 
In by-gone times. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETY. 79 



THE PRETTY DEB A TEE, 

She 's not a logician, 

Nor makes the pretence 

Of rhetorical power 

To verbally fence, 
But little it matters how sturdy your ground, 
She '11 shortly convince you the point is unsound. 

Beneath arching brows 

Gentle batteries play, 

Under cover of which 

In studied array 
From the reddest of lips come arguments sweet, 
That rout syllogisms in utter defeat. 

Retreat if you 're wise, 

And trust to her grace, 

But beg a few kisses 

In lieu of your case. 
With the triumphant smile she cannot conceal, 
" I '11 promise assent to your fervent appeal." 



8o MADELEINE. 



THE COQUETTE. 

Pretty ? No doubt, but deceitful ; 

Those eyes, with their wicked amaze, 
Have oft, under my observation, 

Been touched with a fiery blaze. 
Take heed, lest through infatuation 

You writhe 'neath their treacherous rays ! 

Pretty ? Too true. And she 's conscious 

Of every charm that she owns, 
Although, 'neath the glow of the ball-room. 

You hear her in whispering tones 
Lamenting her excessive plainness. 

And envying others their thrones. 

Pretty ? Ah, yes. And her beauty. 
Reinforced by an infamous art. 

Has slain, in the space of a season, 
Full many an honorable heart. 

My friend, if I 'm not late in warning. 
You will take my advice, and depart. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETY. 8l 



BALLADE. 

Though men in their dealings are cruel and cold, 

Enveloping earth in a cloud of deceit ; 
Though women are tinctured with faults manifold, 

And nourish detractions too great to repeat ; 
Yet oft will one find, in a hidden retreat, 

Pure, natural grace, that with timorous plea, 
Like the touch of the wind 'mid the high-standing 
wheat. 

Breathes poetry's sweet song over meadow and 
sea. 

Though minions of darkness the seasons enfold. 

And every bright phantom is doomed to defeat ; 
Though false coin is current as government gold. 

And the bulb of your Fahrenheit burst with the 
heat ; 
Though friends are determined to lie and to cheat. 

Yet by an intangible mystic decree, 
Some power divinely — where sorrow 's replete — 

Breathes poetry's sweet song over meadow and 
sea. 



Though even the heavens their sunbeams withhold, 
And Apollo is sizzled upon his high seat ; 



82 MADELEINE. 

Though fraudulent coupons are bargained and sold, 
And zephyrs are burdened with showers of 
sleet ; 
Though even the better are somewhat effete, 

Yet gaining its strength in some sheltering lea, 
The soft voice of nature, that 's ever discreet, 
Breathes poetry's sweet song over meadow and 
sea. 

ENVOY. 

Though skeptics in foolishness try to compete, 

And pessimists argue with aims obsolete, 

There 's something that, whispering, dear Love, of 

thee. 
Breathes poetry's sweet song over meadow and sea. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETlfi. 83 



A SIMILE. 

Light and shadow 

Darkening, glancing, 
Clouds and sunshine 

Changing, dancing. 
Frowns and kisses 

Deep, entrancing. . 

Light and shadow 

Joining, parting, 
Playing 'mid the smiling flowers, 

Tinting all the distant sky. 
Are but types of frowns and kisses. 

Meeting, blending. 
Sporting amid maiden's bowers, 

Joining but to beautify. 



84 MADELEINE. 



DOUBTFUL, 

They said that the maiden had no heart ! " 
We stood beside a clustering bed 
Whence one little pansy raised its head 

As though 't were a thing of art, 

I saw in the depths of her soft blue eyes 
A gentle movement of glad surprise ; 

They said that the maiden had no heart ! 
Over the blossom she bent with grace, 
Brushing the dew from its smiling face. 

And moving the leaves apart. 

She plucked the flower with tender care 
And hid it within her soft brown hair ; 

They said that the maiden had no heart ! 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIETE. 85 



MY GIRL. 

Well, no, I don't claim she 's a beauty, 

But the neat little toss of her head 
Is something defying description, 

And then, it is commonly said 
That none can surpass her at painting 

In oils upon canvas or tile. 
While the prettiest maid in creation 

Would fall far behind her in style. 

She sings as divinely as Patti, 

And dances as though her dear heart, 
Being lost to all other diversion, 

Was wholly bound up in the art ; 
Yet when we 're alone in the twilight, 

Thro' moments too dear to be bought, 
She blushes a bit while confessing 

That something else burdens her thought. 



86 MADELEINE. 



LIPS OF THE DAINTIEST HUE, 
TRIOLET. 

Lips of the daintiest hue, 

That tremble and coax for a kiss ; 
Better than aught others do, 
Lips of the daintiest hue. 
Know how to bid an adieu ; 

These are the bearers of bliss : 
Lips of the daintiest hue, 

That tremble and coax for a kiss. 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCIJET!^. 87 



A STUDY. 

A bed of sparkling water, 

With the golden sun portrayed 
Upon its laughing bosom, 

As though it perchance had strayed 
From out of the happy heavens 

In an hour of sinful mirth, 
To play with the sparkling wavelets 

That lie in the lap of earth, 

A boat of lightest texture 

Pushed 'mid the nodding reeds, 
In a bay of fairy pattern, 

Where the sloping bank recedes ; 
Clusters of water-lilies 

Outside the tiny port. 
And a bunch of snowy petals 

Across the middle thwart. 

Two oars in the listless rowlocks 

Lying at perfect rest. 
And the prettiest of maidens 

Weighing a youth's request. 



88 MADELEINE. 



BALLADE OF VOICES, 

When mystic moonlight casts its sheen 

About the world in soft'ning lines, 
And in the brook that skirts the green 

Each little star reflected shines ; 
You '11 hear beneath the bowing pines, 

That long since learned to be discreet, 
Just where the lover's walk inclines, 

The sound of voices low and sweet. 

The flowers marshalled round their queen. 

Breaking the bond that each confines. 
Murmur their rage with petty spleen 

At this invasion of their shrines, 
And conjure many deep designs 

To banish from their snug retreat, 
After the golden sun declines, 

The sound of voices low and sweet. 

But still within their fair demesne. 
Regardless of these hostile signs, 

Lovers at eventide are seen 

With all that youth and grace combines ; 

Where clematis in beauty twines 
In fairy circled realms they meet, 



ATLANTIS AND VERS DE SOCI:i£tiS. 89 

And music wafts through clinging vines 
The sound of voices low and sweet. 

ENVOY. 

Fair romance often here reclines, 
And list'ning near the rustic seat, 

To dark oblivion resigns 

The sound of voices low and sweet. 



AT FT. WM. HENRY. 

With you, sweetheart ! And your dear face 
In all my thought — a dream of grace, — 
Long years ago I, wanton, bent 
My footsteps hitherward, and spent 
A happy summer in this place — 
Where light and shadow interlace, 
And o'er the lake the wavelets chase — 
Yet had I been far more content 
With you, sweetheart. 

To-night 't is pleasant to retrace 
Those old-time moods, for smiles efface 
The incidents we both lament. 
And on the old fort's battlement 
Moonbeams wrap me in one embrace 
With you, sweetheart. 



BITS FROM THE GERMAN. 



DIE LIEBENDE SCHREIBT. 

O precious glances from my love's blue eyes ! 
O kisses pressed by her mouth upon mine ! 
Besides the favors granted at her shrine 
Earth yields no blossoms and all pleasure dies. 

Apart from thee, estranged, 'neath foreign skies, 
In the same round my wayward thoughts incline, 
And as with tendrils, constantly entwine 
Thy gracious self — what wonder great tears rise ! 

But there ! the dark-lined clouds are brushed a.side. 
" He loves you," comes the whisper from my heart, 
And some fair day, hope's harbingers allege 
Fortune shall smile : This secret I confide 
To thee, my Love — my Joy, my Soul thou art. 
And all my will is thine ; — bind thou the pledge. 



90 



BITS FROM THE GERMAN. 91 



BAUERNREGEL— PRECEPTS FOR PEASANTS. 

In summer seek your little maid, 

In garden or in field, 
When long days light your chosen glade, 

And nights their perfume yield. 

In winter cut each tender tie 
Which kindred hearts entwine, 

For who can stand where snowdrifts lie, 
Though moonbeams softly shine ? 



THE LETTER WHICH YOU HAVE WRITTEN. 

The letter thou hast written 

Has no ill news for me ; 
When maidens send the mitten 

They write more cautiously. 

Twelve sheets all written closely 
In hand compact and fine ; 

Dead love writes not so fully, 
But only sends a line. 



92 MADELEINE. 



ICH SPRACH ZUR SONNE. 

Unto the sun I cried : O tell me what is love ? 

He answered not, although the sky was all aflame. 
To the flower I cried : O tell me what is love ? 

Its fragrance was distilled, but, lo ! no answer 
came. 

Unto the Lord I cried : O tell me what is love ? 

Is holiness its sum, or must one wanton be ? 
Then God gave me a wife, down-bending from 
above ; 
And now no more I plead — for Love has an- 
swered me. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 



CLASS POEM— WILLIAMS, 

A flood of changes following warm and fair, 
With golden sunsets and imperial skies, 

Has charmed with sorceries the months, and where 
A fleeting season past, our wandering eyes 
Found naught to rest on save the snowy guise 

With which chill Winter clothes the hills and 
fields, 
A myriad blossoms from their coverts rise 

And dot the meadows with their smiling shields. 

April and May had carpeted with green 
The valley's wealth of smiling meadow-land 

Before we realized, classmates, that the queen 
Of all the months, with her attendant band 
Of elves and merry gnomes, was close at hand, 

And throwing off the influence that glides 

Into our day-dreams, we awoke ; and, lo f the 
grand, 

Sweet month, borne ever on by Time's swift tides. 
Was at our portal with the precious gifts 
She strews as broadly as the light that drifts 

In golden glory the dark mountain side. 
'95 



g6 MADELEINE, 

June, golden June, whose charms conciliate 
The restless spirits of the mount and plain, 

With budding promises that dissipate 

The darkest fears, thro' country path and lane, 
Has re-established her auspicious reign ; 

The woods are garlanded with wreaths of hope ; 
Lacing together in a silver chain. 

The rills and sunbeams dart along the slope 
And flash assurances of dreams fulfilled ; 
Delightful perfumes from the fields distilled 

Delight the senses, while with soft refrain 

The wandering zephyrs in their sweetest strain 

Whisper of autumn to the swelling grain. 

Since we are travelling into unknown seas 

Let these sweet auguries have room and place 

Within our hearts ; the favoring breeze 

That now plays softly o'er the streamlet's face, 

And stirs the branches of the maple-trees, 
May prove a harbinger of favoring gales. 
Hereafter swelling fortune's purple sails. 

For we are voyagers that with sounding lute 
Have drifted down the courses of life's stream 

'Mid scenes of joy and peace, where golden fruit 
With budding flowers in the sunshine gleam, 
And soft illusions clothe each waking dream ; 

Till, growing conscious of the fading shore, 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 97 

We feel new currents sweep against the oar, 

And hear commingled with the curlew*s scream 
In hoarse defiance the dull ocean roar. 

When hands inspired sweep across the strings 
Of harp or lyre, and the soft sweet strain, 

From dwelling 'mid the violets, wings 

Aloft a skyward flight, our glad hearts gain 
New revelations that with art enchain 

The nobler powers. With the growing sweep 
Of ocean billows, as life's broadening main 

Dawns full upon the vision, and the deep, 
Proudly neglectful of its glorious reign. 

Drowns with its music the soft canzonet 

Of streamlet bright and purling rivulet, 

Men bow instinctively at Nature's shrine, 
And seek the mystery of life's alphabet. 

So comrades ; as the stronger ocean tides 
Of worldly action dash against the beaks 

Of our frail shallops, and on every side 
We hear the louder murmuring that bespeaks 

The white-capped breakers, reaching far and wide ; 
Let us give ear to all their song would teach, 

For both the billows whose curved frontlets hide 
A strength titanic, and the smiling reach 
Of rippled wavelets kissing the white beach, 

Carry as sea-weeds the unravelled gold 

Of life's great mysteries and truths untold. 



98 ^ MADELEINE. 

Till now the shallows with their shingled beds 

Of colored sands have yielded to your strength, 
As following in its course the shining thread 

Of the bright river through its winding length, 
Ye grasped the tiller carelessly and spread 

The softly purpled sails ; but with the range 
Of waters blue, that in the offing wed 

The bluer skies, there comes a wondrous change 
Into your lives : God grant ye find the key 
To every riddle that the droning sea 

Of time puts forth to test your virtue ; 
For ye are strong, though past days have been 
free 

From warring tempests, or the interchange 
Of knightly blows in combat ; armored cap-a-pie 

With truth and honor, your mailed hands will hew 

A way to victory, when the retinue 
Of sin's great captain, dare your vessel's sides ; 

The fiercest gale that blows, or ever blew, 
Shall wrestle vainly with the swelling tides 
To wreck your craft, and ye shall gain 

Your ends at last with Galahad, and view 
Bright visions with the ceasing hurricane. 



Thus fortune preludes final victory. 
Meantime a gracious mystery 
Has wrought overhead a dainty canopy^ 
Where tinted hues of shaded green 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 99 

Are lace-like wrought into the sheen 
Of heavenly blue, as bright and fair 
As souther?i skies, while everywhere 
More brilliant than the field of gold. 
With costumes rich and manifold, 
The greensward spreads its smiling lawn 
As if to welcome in the datun 
Of glad commencement. Far and wide 
The pencilled rays of light divide. 
And shower with a silvered rain 
The flowers, flashing back again 
A reflex glory. Joy and mirth 
With blessings strew the blooming earth j 
While mounted high on leafy thi'one, 
By every wandering zephyr blow7i. 
The robin in its sweetest tone 
Whistles of some far distant zone, 
Where long and gray the bearded moss 
Hangs from the trees like silken floss. 



Four long summers have past since our well-beloved 
queen of the Berkshires, 

Crowned with her emerald hills, as a princess be- 
decked with her jewels, 

Whispered a welcome soft to the class that buoyant 
and hopeful, 

Came as a link in the chain of those that have 
drank at her fountains. 



lOO MADELEINE. 

Four long summers have past, and still o'er the beau- 
tiful village, 

Greylock uprears his crest, as strong and as grandly- 
majestic 

As in the days that are gone — a type of the bonds 
that are lasting, 

And of a love that abides 

Eternal while all things are changing. 

Spring after spring in the fields have we watched 
the violets weaving 

Webs of purple and white in the woof of the glis- 
tening meadow, 

Or on the mountain tops, with the earliest breezes 
of April, 

Brushing the leaves aside, have discovered the 
arbutus hiding 

Petals that seem to have gained their delicate 
tints from the angels. 

Yonder, a rose-colored cloud, its corollas daintily 
painted. 

Blossomed the pinxter flower, while in the lower 
morasses. 

Yellowing all the vale, the cowslips bloomed and 
departed. 

Summer, succeeding spring, has swept like a dream 
of enchantment 

Through the broad streets of the town and along 
the blossoming valley. 

Painting the girdling hills with a hundred shades, 
till, desponding, 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. lOI 

Autumn has grasped the brush and brought in a 

season of wonder, 
Dyeing the leaves far and wide with yellow and 

gold and vermilion, 
Till from the crest of Stonehill, all along the 

verge of the river. 
All the landscape has flushed with a glorious blend- 
ing of color. 
Away on the side of "^ Berlin," a softly mantling 

rubescence 
Reddens to crimson, while far on the opposite 

height of Mound Williams 
Spreads there an aureate veil, that deepens at 

spots into saffron. 
Clad in such various beauties, the months have 

come and departed, 
Even old Winter relenting at times for his cold- 
ness and harshness, 
And with the beams of the sun upbuilding such 

castles of glory 
That we have seemed to look deep, far into the 

portals of heaven. 
Four long summers have passed, and how sweet are 

the bright recollections 
That with their glittering threads weave into the 

web of the present 
Pictures that never will fade, of color and beauty 

enduring : 
Here, in a transport of joy> we hail the triumphant 

eleven, 



I02 MADELEINE. 

Lifting our hats far on high and loudly cheering for 
Williams ; 

And there, 'mid a storm of applause, the nine 
wrests a vict'ry from Amherst. 

Far on the loftiest walls of memory's tapestried 
dwelling 

Shall these fair paintings be placed, and as highly 
honored among them, 

As is a queen in her court, will be found the remem- 
brance of Class-day ; 

Made more radiant yet, 'mid its cloud of flowers 
and maidens. 

By clustering faces of friends, perchance by the 
face of a sweetheart. 

Four long summers have past, and now on the verge 
of Commencement, 

Many a heart grows faint as it thinks of the bonds 
to be severed. 

Many an eye grows dim as, lost in a boundless per- 
spective. 

Vainly it seeks for the form, endeared by a thou- 
sand relations. 

Often in coming years, when mayhaps the whiskers 
are silvered. 

Shall we look back to these days with a yearning 
too great to be uttered. 

Pressing again the hands, that then shall be resting 
forever. 

Living over again the ardent debate in the 
sanctum, 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. I03 

Or loudly greeting the boys, as they come laurel- 
crowned from the campus. 

Judges and gray-haired divines shall forget the 
succession of triumphs 

That has brought influence crowned with the last- 
ing trust of the people, 

And leaving pulpit and bench, shall bend on a pil- 
grimage hither. 

Telling old tales of the time when they rivalled 
each other in college. 

And in those coming days, as we think of the glory 
departed. 

Often our thoughts shall retrace the features of two 
of our classmates 

Gone in the strength of their youth, while yet our 
bonds were united. 

The flowers did not fold 

Their petals fair, 

Nor did the winds withhold 

Their zephyrs from the fields, but all the sky 

Grew darker to the sight, and everywhere 

Semblance of mourning seemed to mortify 

The bitterness of grief . 

Toll softly, bell ! Toll softly for the early dead ! 

For those whose vision had but just attained 

Youth' s joyous prospect, when its beauties waned 

Upon the sight. Toll softly for the early dead ! 

Their spirits like some leaf 

That fades while yet 't is springy 



I04 MADELEINE. 

As if imagining 

An unheard music, or an unseen light, 

Have taken flight. 

Thus sadly as a battered host that hears 

The peal of victory ringing o'er the field, 

We pause amid the circling round of cheers, 

To note the forms borne past upon their shields, 

Then turn to mark the trophies that now shine 

Far in the vanward. We may softly lay 

A spray of laurel on the sleeping forms 

That now have passed the limits of life's storms, 

But with the deed, the genius of our day 

And generation calls us from the shrine. 

Never before has the loved purple streamed 

Its royal banner o'er more conquests gained 

Than in this era, when beloved, esteemed 

By all who, struggling by it, have maintained 

The cause of right and culture, it has gleamed 

High on the loftiest parapets attained 

By truth's battalions. Beautiful and bright 

It glistens like a meteor in the light 

Of a new eon, and around it press 

The hearts and hands that sturdily uphold 

Its lofty tenets. Surely manliness 

Is made more manly by a hundred-fold 

As liberal thought and teaching purge the mind 

From ignorant conceits, until refined 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. I05 

And rendered useful, intellect is placed 
Upon a sure foundation. Such a task 
Our Alma Mater long ago embraced, 
Forging the helm and buckling on the casque 
Of many a youthful knight, 
Whose deeds of strength and might 
Are with her own fair laurels interlaced. 

How beauteous art thou in thy loveliness 

O gracious mother ! Morning's growing blush 

Girds all thy towers with a soft caress ; 

And when the night comes with its blessedness, 

It is as if some wonder-working brush 

Had wrought the starlight into quaint designs 

Upon thy close-cut lawns. Often in those bright days 

That lie beyond, shall we recall the shrines 

Where we found God in nature, read his praise 

In the delightful music of the rills. 

And sought a broader vision ; now, alas ! 

For the last time, as a united class 

Shall we behold the sunlight on these hills 

That time has made so dear. Behold, a voice, 

Ringing and clear as some wild bugle blast, 

Fills all the aether, bidding us rejoice — 

The time has come for action ! holding fast 

To all that is eternal, let us face 

The crash of combat, and by valor place 

Our banners in the van ; by God's good grace 

We '11 live to conquer — though the world oppose ! 



Io6 MADELEINE. 



THE SAXONS. 

Men of majestic stature, tall and fair, 

With limbs gigantic and proud-towered heads ; 

They sneered at fear, and made their leafy beds 

Upon the field of carnage. Binding their long hair 

In tufted warlock, they would do and dare 

More than a Roman. Courage seemed inbred 

In their stern breasts. Where'er their chieftain led, 

There would they follow, even if despair 

Beset their way. From such a noble race 

Came England's heroes, Frobisher and Drake, 

And those brave mariners who dared to trace 

The pathless ocean, and to undertake 

The voyage across the sea, while in disgrace 

They drove Spain home and thundered in her wake. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. lO/ 



AT EVENTIDE. 

When shadows kiss the distant heights, 
And in the west the color dies, 
The myrmidons of golden lights 
That dot the heaven's wide expanse, 
And glorify the mantled skies, 
Bespeak an army's grand advance. 

Battalions on battalions flash 

Their sparkling lances toward the world, 

While meteoric couriers dash 

Upon their errands, and one hears. 

From where the milk-white flags are furled, 

The wondrous ''music of the spheres." 



A HE BUFF. 

Happy sunbeams, ever glancing 
O'er my table ; prancing, dancing 

Outside on the gleaming snow, 
Do away with this romancing ; 
You 're not nearly so entrancing 

As the light from eyes I know. 



Io8 MADELEINE. 



TO ORION. 

Great Orion, king of heaven, 

Warder of the hosts of night, 
Shining forth in all thy splendor, 
Ever gloriously bright. 
There is music in thy progress o'er the purple dome 

on high, 
When at length the twilight deepens and a shadow- 
veils the sky. 

Thou art sung in ancient story, 

Hoary seers have watched thy course 
Striding through the gem-lit heavens, 
Marshalling thy starry force. 
Hail ! O mighty in thy grandeur as the wondrous 

work of One 
Who, with ever-living wisdom, weighs the floods 
and guides the sun. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. IO9 



IVY SONG. 

Symbol of sacred ties, 
Kissing the gray wall's face, 
Weave in a chaste design 
All that our hearts enshrine, 
As with a native grace 
Thy budding sprays shall rise 
Toward the fair smiling skies. 

Springtide shall clothe thy stems 
With garlands rare and green, 
Emblems of cherished aim ; 
While autumn's ruddy flame, 
Painting thy leafy sheen, 
Shall make a thousand gems. 
Flash from thy diadems. 

Twine, Ivy, closely twine, 
Round friendship's golden bond, 
And where thy boughs enweave. 
May our glad hearts perceive 
Glimpses of joys beyond ; 
While o'er thy clinging vine, 
Heaven's best blessings shine. 



no MADELEINE 



A FRAGMENT. 

Over the self-same road 

We had travelled in early June, 
When the flowers blushed in beauty, 

•And the birds were all in tune. 
Over the self-same road, 

While above us, far on high. 
The sun in his car of fire 

Swept through a clearing sky. 
The snow lay all about us, 

But the flowers were in my heart ; 
And sweetly they smiled and budded 

When they knew your gentle art. 
No birds sang in the branches, 

But music thrilled my breast, 
Far in the lowly valleys. 

And away on the mountain's crest. 
God grant the same sweet music 

May cut through the future's haze, 
And hang with blossoming garlands 

The life of the coming days ! 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS, III 

ON THE DEA TH OF A FA VORITE DOG. 

They have no souls, these myriad friends 

Whom God to man has given, 
Between the spirit and the clay 

Are endless chasms riven ; 
But surely when creation stirred 

By mandate from above. 
Into their humbler forms there breathed 

The elements of love. 

hermon: 

O faint blue hills, that to the Christ-child's eyes 

Gleamed soft and distant on the shadowy line 
Of Nazareth's horizon ; though twilight dies 

Along your crested peaks, glory divine 
Shall ever fold thy forms, for from the skies 

That kiss thy summits, memorable sign ! 
God spake his love, and in an earthly guise 

The prophets talked with Christ. Each holy 
shrine 
The wide world over knows yoiir blessed tale, 

And pilgrims who with toil thy hill-tops gain, 
Bow low the knee — as if the seamless veil 

'Twixt earth and heaven were once more rent in 
twain. 
And better far than vision of the Grail, 

They saw the fruits of the Messiah's reign. 



112 MADELEINE. 



COMPANIONSHIP OF NATURE. 

Lying among the daisies, 

Under the fair blue skies, 
I find in the life about me 

A minute paradise. 
I know not the tender grasses 

By the names they have in books, 
But I find them sweet companions 

When away in shady nooks 
I hide from the world about me, 

And the wrangle of earthly seers, 
To dwell on the countless lessons 

Which lie in their tender spears. 
Each leaf a microcosm 

Singing of God's dear love, 
Each flower a tiny picture 

Of the stars that burn above. 
Each blade in its graceful curving 

One of God's wondrous tomes, 
And in the green about me 

A multitude of homes ! 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. II3 



BY THE GRATE. 



While watching the fire's ruddy glow, 

How strange are the fancies that ebb and flow 

Through the channels of the brain ! 
As sweet and dear to the heart are they 
As the whispers soft of a summer day, 

Or thoughts that come with the rain. 

To some there are murmurs from distant lands. 
And over the desert flit shadowy bands 

Of Bedouins, while in the west 
The great sun moves down the arch on high, 
And sinks with his train thro' the golden sky 

Away to his evening's rest. 

Or else in a vision of tossing seas. 

Which rise and fall with the freshening breeze, 

Quaint craft sail over the main, 
And roll and pitch in silver straits 
Which flow between fairy-land's rich estates, 

And are lost in the floods again. 

But thoughts not easily understood 
Come close to me in the blazing wood. 
And dreams never dreamt before — 
Somewhat of the future, somewhat of the past ; 



114 MADELEINE. 

Glancings of pleasure that could not last, 
And of days that are yet in store. 

A melody thrills through the siniling grate, 
Unloosed from the chains of remorseless fate 

I build my castles of air ; 
And music covers the walls with green, 
And drapes o'er the towers a flowery screen 

Where before it was cold and bare. 

For the moment, at least, the dark clouds fly, 
Disclosing a future with swelling sky 

Unstained in its arching vail. 
Such are the things that I seem to see, 
And such are the whispers that come to me 

From within the fiery pale. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. II5 



GOLDEN-ROD. 

Furze-clad sceptre of the God 
Who, when summer dies, imprints 
On the leaves a thousand tints ; 
Cease thy task of heralding 
Through the fields thy coming King. 
Come and hear us, while we sing 
Thy just praise, sweet Golden-Rod. 

When the August flow'rets nod 
Wearily upon their stalks, 
And along the garden walks 
Crimson petals droop and fail ; 
Then each merry field and dale 
Dons the bright bespangled mail 
Of thy blossoms, Golden-Rod. 

See ! Each humble sun-warmed sod, 
O'er which autumn's grasses wave, 
Finds new life within its grave. 
And, with all its forces blent. 
In a saffron-tinted tent 
Builds a lasting monument 
To thy glory. Golden Rod ! 



Il6 MADELEINE. 

MY GRANDFATHER. 

Straight, tall, and true, 

Of royal mould, 

With silvery locks and forehead bold, 
With eyes of fairest blue ; 

A man of more than princely birth, 

Of Puritanic strength and worth. 
One of the chosen few 

Who wield love's sceptre in this earth, 

A SONNET. 

'T is when the wealth of summer life 
Merges into cool autumnal days, 
And golden harvests o'er the land 
Bespeak the great Creator's praise, 
That, noting how insensate things, 
By ever striving more and more 
To reach a full maturity, 
Obey kind nature's guiding law ; 
Remorse will hurl a poignant dart 
To rankle in each human heart 
Which knows that it has had no part 
In rearing on earth's humble sod, 
Where Christ's own willing feet have trod, 
A finished temple to its God. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. I17 



POL YCARP. 

How sweet the words 

The hero spake 

Who died in Smyrna years ago, 

When standing on 

The nearer shore 

Of that great river men call death, 

Whose waves are bridged 

With golden bars, 

Studded throughout with rarest gems 

Passing the brilliance of the stars. 

Like crested rock 

He rose above 

The maddening crowd that, like the sea. 

Rose in a tumult 

Far around, 

And loudly bade him bow the knee. 

At their dictation, yield his God ; 

Renounce the Christ, 

His lifelong friend ; 

And to their lower natures bend. 

Perchance the swelling 
Crowd was stilled 
Before he made reply, for on 
His snowy locks 



Il8 MADELEINE. 

God's loving smile 

Rested, I know, and his grand features shone 

With something of that higher life 

Which sometimes touches earth with light, 

As fair auroras sweep across 

The purple bosom of the night. 

" Eighty and six 

Years have I served 

My God, and nought to me but good 

Has come for fully 

Trusting him. 

Ah, if ye only understood 

What sweet repose he gives his saints. 

What blessings on 

My head have poured 

Since I accepted him, ye would 

Not ask me curse my King, my Lord !" 

Thus spake he ! 

Then, triumphant o'er 

The baser cravings of the mortal part, 

Laid down his life 

To take it up 

On fairer shores, where long his heart 

In Christ's dear love had found repose 

There now of those 

About the throne, 

Drest in the raiment of the Lamb, 

None sing God's grace in sweeter tone. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. II9 



THE FLOWER GIRL. 

" Flowerets, flowerets ! 

Cowslips and violets, 

Swamp pinks and blue-eyed grass, 

Bishop's cap, arbutus ! " 

Hear to the tiny lass, 

As she addresses us : 

" Flowerets, flowerets ! 

Who '11 buy my flowerets ? " 

" Flowerets, flowerets ! " 
They will prove amulets 
To him whose kindly love 
Offers the silver piece ; 
Gifts showered from above 
Shall to his soul increase. 
" Flowerets, flowerets. 
Who '11 buy my flowerets ? " 



MADELEINE. 

SUNLIGHT THROUGH CLOUDLAND. 

Shilling thro' clouds, 

Oh, thou sweet type of all-redeeming love ; 

Half buried in the rosy mists above. 

Thou sendest many welcome rays. 

Through the far-reaching depths of haze, 

Into this world of men ! 

Shining thro' clouds. 

The beams of light divine, 

From the dear Father's throne, 

Into our bosoms shine. 

And make us all their own. 



LIFE. 

Life, says the poet, is but a fickle flame 

That earthly breezes hustle to and fro ; 

Now burning brightly in Dame Fortune's glance, 

And then expiring, as some subtle chance 

Sweeps out the memory of shame and fame, 

Puffs out its light and snuffs its kindly glow. 

What, then, shall follow when the flame is spent ? 
Some say there shall be gloom on every side ; 
But others, mindful that it is by night 
That men alone rely on candle-light, 
Look for a dawn toward the Orient, 
Where sunrise glories glisten far and wide. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 



CONSECRA TION. 



I held a harp with golden strands 

Close to my heaving breast ; 

The wires thrilled with an untold love, 

And would not be at rest. 

I said : Whose name 

Shall I raise to fame 

Of all who have lived and died ? 

The flowers about me slightly stirred, 

And the leaves above me sighed. 

I heard the zephyrs thro' the pines 
Echo the chant from shore, 
Where ocean waters roll and toss 
And seething breakers roar ; 
While unseen hands 
Swept the golden strands, 
Which quickly swelled to the nod 
Of crested woods that in rhythm sing 
The praise of an unseen god. 

Then bathed in wondrous music 

Clearly his love I sang, 

While the mighty deep throbbed sweetly 

And woods and forests rang ; 

While back again 

Came the sweet refrain 

Of planets and golden stars, 



MADELEINE. 

Which ever sound the Almighty's praise 
Thro' all their heavenly bars. 

Methought the curtain of cloudland ■ 

Was suddenly rolled away, 

And from the portals of heaven 

Shot a resplendent ray 

Of wondrous love, 

While the spheres above 

Shook in the winds of pearly light, 

Which passing the confines of the star 

Illumed the world with their streamers bright. 

A chord of heavenly music 

Thrilled thro' the realms of space. 

Filling my heart with the sunshine 

Of Christ's redeeming grace ; 

Only a note 

From a seraph's throat, 

But it melted my very soul ; 

And I sank unconscious to the earth, 

As I heard its echoes roll 

Away o'er the ocean at my feet. 

Till it passed away in music sweet. 

And now whene'er I touch the strands 

Of my jewelled harp with its golden bands, 

As I lie upon an emerald sod, 

I sing of the wondrous living God. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. I23 



A suggestion: 

If thou wouldst have the great creative source 
Of life and knowledge breathe into thy soul 

A love for poesy's flowers, thread the course 
Of some clear brooklet over pebbled shoal 
And sculptured limestones, to the silver bowl, 

Bowered full deep in some fern-tangled ring, 

Where bubble up the waters of its spring. 

There, stretched at length amid the fragrant brake, 
Forget thyself ! And in the rifting light 

That filters through the tree-tops, thou shalt wake 
Into a newer life. No other rite 
Has God demanded ! He that loses sight 

Of his own being, by the sacrifice 

Unlocks the door of poesy's paradise. 



124 MADELINE. 



CHRIST AND PETER. 

Soft zephyrs touched with gentle breath 

The waters of Genesareth, 

Rippling the calm blue surface o'er 

With waves which broke in mimic roar 

Upon the sandy beach. 

While glinting all within their reach 

With colors warm and bright, 

The sunbeams spread their grateful light. 

Two figures, differing each from each, 

Are standing on the level beach : 

The one a miracle of grace, 

With sweet eyes lighting up his face, — 

Eyes which o'erflow with love 

To all on earth, to God above ; 

He who so lately lay in death, — 

'T is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 

A fisher's coat is closely bound 
The other's sturdy form around, 
While neath the tangled mass of hair 
Upon his brow shows brightly fair, 
Features both bold and strong. 
To guide the weak and conquer wrong ; 
To suffer death, if need shall be, 
Upon the consecrated tree. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 1 25 

"Feed thou my lambs." Simon bends low, 

As sweet the gentle accents flow, 

And while the wavelets lave the beach, 

Striving some nearer goal to reach, 

With low and modest trill, 

Yet sure with harmony to fill 

The soul, — Beginning with this silver strand 

A world's crusade is swiftly planned. 

TO A FLOWER. 

Tender little floweret. 

With thy petals pink and white, 
Opening in the morning 

At the first faint gleam of light. 

Making the fresh air sweeter 

For thy delicate perfume ; 
Hiding thy tinted leaflets 

'Mid the grasses' spear and plume. 

Loving the tender missive 

That is wafted from thy glen. 
Which only poets interpret 

To the seething world of men ; 

Only the poet interprets, 

As he kneels upon the sod 
And finds in dew-kissed cuplets 

The work of a living God. 



126 MADELEINE. 



WA TCII AND PRA Y. 

Although the skies are bright and fair, 

O dear one, watch and pray. 
Pleasure is e'er entwined with care. 
And shadows with the day. 
Men ever seek to deify 
The world that yet will crucify. 

When close around the storms of earth, 

O dear one, watch and pray. 
The promises of priceless worth 
Should guide you on your way, 
And angels 'mid the pathless wold 
Lead ever to the Shepherd's fold. 

Though pleasures smile, or dangers frown, 

O dear one, watch and pray. 
With joy anticipate thy crown 
And willingly obey 

The promptings that with gentle art 
Would skyward draw thy yielding heart. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 1 27 



FROM MY WINDOW. 



Hurrying on through the stately square, 
Flushed with pleasures and bent with care, 

During the morning a busy throng 
Passes in murmuring tides along. 

Shedding a blessing upon each face, 
Softening each with a nameless grace, 

Fairly the rays of the golden sun 
Carry a message to every one. 

There are those whose lives are marred with grief, 
Souls that would willingly seek relief 

From earthly woes in a kinder sphere, 

Which for the moment seems drawing near. 

Others there are who are straight and strong, 
And merry in heart as days are long ; 

O'er all, the sun-heralds softly play. 

Kissing each cheek, while they seem to say : 

" Ye are all as much in God's dear sight 
As in the beams of his glancing light. 

For every ray from the land above 

Is tinged throughout with his wond'rous love." 



128 MADELEINE. 



THE SLEEPERS IN THE OLD COPP'S HILL 
B UR YING-GRO UND. ' 

Softly they rest, 

Buried in sleep, 

Here by the shore of the murmuring deep. 

Carolling their praise 

In melodious lays, 

Birds in the boughs above 

Sing with full-throated love. 

Holy the sod 

Over each breast. 

Lying so peaceful upon the hill's crest. 

Peeping to see the sight, 

Beautiful rays of light 

Glance thro' the leafy shade 

Which the tree-tops have made. 

This shattered stone 

Speaks of the war 

When Burgoyne's batteries raked Charlestown's 

shore. 
There by the iron fence 
On yonder eminence, 
Standing erect and still, 
Clinton watched Bunker Hill. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 129 

God grant that peace 

Here shall abide 

As the fast-fleeting years roll on their tide. 

Hallowed each hoary mound, 

'T is consecrated ground, 

And it shall ever be 

Clothed in sweet sanctity. 



MISSIONAR V SONNE T. 

Go ye and teach all nations in the name 

Of Father, Son, and Spirit. Sweet behest 

Of God's dear Christ, who for our sake became 

Incarnate in the flesh. Borne east and west 

By hosts seraphic and by tongues of flame. 

The tidings glad — of God made manifest — 

Rang out an echo to the glad acclaim 

That pealed from every battlemented crest 

Of Zion's purpled heights. The Master's voice, 

Thrilling with music every tun^d chord 

Of nature's heart, and man's, has thrown the doors 

Of his salvation open. O rejoice ! 

Ye far-off nations, for a risen Lord 

Shall yet be preached upon your distant shores ! 



130 MADELEINE. 



LONGFELLOW. 
Died March 24, 1882. 

" Like unto ships far out at sea, 

Outward or homeward bound are we." 

Just ere the evening shadows fell, 
Close to the purple horizon's band, 

Riding this earthly ocean's swell, 
A vessel was seen far off from land. 

Bound to a distant port, we said, 

Watching the sun kiss its snowy sails ; 

And all the clouds were silver and red 
Far in the west where the vision fails. 

Then full softly it passed from sight 
Away o'er the offing's distant bar, 

Leaving a wake of pearly light — 
Bright as the train of an errant star. 

Rivers of gold in the western sky, 
Reflexes of an eternal dawn. 

Linger a space before the eye, 

And suddenly with a flash are gone. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. I3I 

Night with its shadows o'er the world 
Sweeps fearfully on its sombre wings ; 

Heaven's banners are all unfurled, 

And the entrance gate on its hinges swings. 

While crystal waters far and wide 

Beckon the beautiful white-stoled guest, 

Girding it round with a dancing tide 

As it floats at peace on their throbbing breast. 



DESPAIR. 

With sails of foulest rags, unclean, besprent 
With noisome filth — the ship of dread Despair 
Hails Life's dear bark, in those deep channels 

where 
The tides of youth and manhood become blent 
In one wide stream : loud-voiced and impudent, 
Its master hails us, bidding us beware 
Of gathering storm-clouds and of deep-laid snare. 
And something in his tone brings discontent. 
Voyagers ! when gold-rimmed shores of childhood 

fade 
Before your vision, and your anxious eyes 
Note broader streams, flee from this renegade. 
Else by his wiles he claim you as his prey ; 
With canvas neatly bent and hand on blade. 
Search out the sea that sunlight glorifies. 



132 MADELEINE. 

LAST WORDS OF COLUMBUS. 

The evening shadows softly flying 

Whisper in tears 

A seer is dying. 

The sun yet lingers in the west, 

Flooding the pillows lightly prest 

With an aetherial light ; 

Day loiters on the porch of night. 

The shades of eve in measure slow 
Close round the world ; 
He whispers low, 

While quick the last few moments flee : 
** In manus tuas, D amine 
Commendo meum spiritum." 

The long, hard days have reached their sum, and 
soft, he sleeps. 

The last faint blush of light has fled, 

The stars proclaim 

A seer is dead ; 

While thro' the clouds a sundered soul. 

In realms of light now truly whole, 

Has passed with the last twilight ray 

To where no darkness blurs the day. 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. I33 



THE TWO SONGS OF A MAIDEN. 

Close by the shade of a deep, dark wood 

There lived a maiden sweet and fair, 
Her eyes were lit with a tender blue. 

And the beams of the sun were in her hair ; 
While all through the merry, happy day 

She sat 'neath the limbs of a chestnut tall, 
And sang till the leaflets trembled above. 

And the blackbird whistled back her call. 

" Ah ! the sky is bright and the gree?i fields gay, 
All things living are happy to-day ; 
Never, methi^iks, was the world so bright 
In the sparkling sheen of the glad sunlight" " 

There came a gallant from over the hills, 

He wore in his cap a nodding plume. 
And fair he seemed as he rode from the aisles 

Of the shady wood with their depth of gloom ; 
And the maiden's heart was filled with joy, 

When at length by the river's golden sand 
He knelt in beauty upon the bank 

And sought for the gift of her tiny hand. 

And she placed her white arms 'round his neck, 
And looked her love in his handsome face, 



134 MADELEINE. 

Singing with glee a yet sweeter song, 

As he held her clasped in a long embrace. 

" Never before has the morning air 

The dear world drest in a gown so fair j 

Never, methinks, was the world so bright 

In the sparkling sheen of the glad sunlight. 

Ah ! the skies are bright and the green fields gay, 

But none are so happy as I to-day ^ 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS. 1 35 



STORM IN THE NIGHT. 

Down thundering from the eternal arch, 
Like mounted troopers on the march, 
Comes the exultant rain ; 
Anon the red-forked lightning plays, 
Cutting the aether with its rays, — 
Then all is night again. 

A moment's stillness, then a rolling crash. 
As when snow-covered icebergs dash 
Their tops together on the deep, 
Or. when some feudal castle bold 
Tumbles its towers gray and old 
Into the donjon keep. 

Then clattering, spattering, 
Every roof battering, 
Newly formed regiments 
Drawn from the elements, 
Charging in columns deep. 
Through the close sether sweep ; 
Flooding the patient earth, 
Crushing the flower frail, 
Rattling against the blinds, 
Squadrons of icy hail. 



136 MADELEINE. 

Peal upon peal ! 

One can almost feel 

That the elms outside are bowing low ; 

Then a hush like death, 

While with bated breath 

The world seems to wait for a coming blow. 

The shadows are growing yet more dark, 
And with the increasing stillness — hark ! 
The cattle are lowing in the shed ; 
The tempest is raging overhead, 
And ah ! What a blinding flash ! 
It seemed to pierce to the very heart, 
And rankle there with a burning pain 
As if it had been some steely dart. 

The storm has returned once more, 

And amid the clouds with a ceaseless roar 

The triumphant thunder rolls. 

Waking an echo in our souls. 

Surely this is the voice of God, 

And the coursing fire is the rod 

He holds in his mighty hand ! 

This is a time for prayer, 

For the very air 

And the sea and the land 

Seem for the moment to know their King, 

And we almost hear 

Each hidden sphere 



BY-PATH GLEANINGS, 137 

Joining in its majestic swing 

To utter the great Creator's praise. 

***** 

With the thought the storm-clouds fly, 
And again the lanterns across the sky 
Light up its purple ways. 

***** 

Whispering yet its muttered wrath, the storm 
Threatens the earth, as breakers when they form 
And 'gainst her barriers dash ; 
While lighting the horizon's distant line, 
Along the far-off woods of mountain pine, 
The tempest's fires flash. 



THE END. 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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